The Talent Equation Podcast

This is a great chat with FA Coach Development Manager, Jack Walton. Jack has a wealth of experience in coaching and working with coaches so he has seen and experienced many of the challenges that most coaches face...In this episode we discuss:- How Jack challenged me when he was listening to one of my workshops- How he helps coaches to develop coaching philosophy- His clubs approach to developing players - His thoughts on Nurture v Nature - Why decision making is so difficult to develop in players and loads more....EnjoyStuart

Rus Smith is not your ordinary kind of coach...nor is he your ordinary kind of coach developer. Rus works to develop potential, Rus is a true developer of talent...but not in the way that many might think. The kind of talents that Rus develops are found in people that live in places that a lot of other people wouldn't go with people that a lot of other people wouldn't want to engage with. Not Rus...Rus has a talent for developing people...he has a passion to find the spark inside them and to ignite that spark. He is damn good at it too...In this conversation we cover a lot of ground including...- What FA Technical Director, Dan Ashworth taught Rus about working with people when he was the Academy Manager at West Bromwich Albion- How he trained police officers to become coaches and reduced crime in their neighbourhood by 70%- How he trained 'Helen the Belly Dancer' and how she wrote her session plan on a yoga mat- His key beliefs about people development including his mantra 'a person in sport...is a person ou

Calvin Betton has the life that would be the envy of many. He travels Europe coaching and helping young tennis players to strive to break into the professional ranks. It's a tough life but somebody's got to do it...right? Not necessarily...In this episode we get an inside picture of the life of a tennis coach working at the cliff edge of the talent space...the key transition zone from promising junior to top level adult. In the episode we cover...- The big gap in coach education that meant that skill acquisition was only covered at level 5!- The questions he asked a tennis legend about the advice he was giving to aspiring players to use drills to become better tennis players- Why people don't understand what good coaching looks like- How he creates intensity using 'pressure training' - His innovative method of giving feedback called 'bandwidth feedback' - His approach to 'challenge point theory' called 'training on the edge'There is a wealth of insight in here that we were able to benefit from because of a ra

Craig 'Gunny' Gunn is an Australian Rules Football Coach based in Brisbane Australia. He has been practising his own brand of games based, constraints led, coaching which has been affectionately nicknamed 'Gunny Madness' or 'Gunny Chaos'. Two terms which should be treated as the highest form of praise which you will see in this episode. In this episode with go on a magical conversational journey that covers..- Why some parents made an official complaint about his coaching not teaching technical skills - His way of using the constraints led approach - The challenges of coaching in this way and the challenges of educating other coaches to work in this way- Using the Whitmore's GROW model as a way to provide feedback- Why decision making, perception and technique must always we developed together- Why indigenous populations in Australia are over represented in professional Aussie Rules and Rugby League (Hint- it's the chaotic unstructured bush games that they play!!)As Gunny would say...this one's a ripper!!Enjo

Nick Winkelman is the Head of Athletic Development at the Irish Rugby Football Union. He is a man on a mission to change the way that athletes are developed to be able to move and perform more effectively in sporting contexts. You will struggle to find someone more committed to his craft and dedicated to enhancing human performance. In this conversation with cover a range of subjects including: - Why the NFL Combine is not a talent ID process- His secret formula for athlete development (now called the '4 P + 2' approach)- Why he thinks that players are developed in the wrong way - Why 'perception-action coupling is the 'hard problem' of skill acquisition- Why 'sometimes what is best for the athlete is not giving them your best'There is a lot in this discussion so sit back and enjoy!

Jonathan Henderson is the Academy Manager at Bristol Rovers FC. He is someone that takes the process of talent development very seriously. After all it is his profession and also his livelihood. In this context you might expect it to be all about winning and results and the training methodology to be all about structure and organisation...Far from it......if anything Jonathan's academy goes in the opposite direction...the focus is on player development it is an environment that tries to live and breathe the philosophy of 'player centredness'. This is someone who is right at the coaclface of talent development and understands that the best way to develop players is to foster a playful, creative environment where players are free to explore and stretch themselves without fear of failure. In this conversation we discuss: - Why he refers to his academy environment as 'The performance playground' and what that means- How the research for his Masters qualification saw him focus on self directed activity as a source

Russell 'Rusty' Earnshaw is on a mission...His mission is to develop coaches. No, his mission is to develop 'coaching wizards'!! And he is a Grand Wizard! 'Rusty's' coaching sessions are nothing short of magical...so much so that he created a community on Edufii called 'The Magic Academy' where a committed following of disciples come together to cast their spells and concoct new potions. In this fantastic conversation we discuss...- Why we should avoid limiting the athlete's future by "putting the software of today on their hardware" - Why some of his coach development sessions have coaches looking like "they have seen fire for the first time"- His definition of what makes a coaching wizard- How England Rugby are transforming coaching by using CARDS- How a night club doorman's clicker could be the most powerful behavioural regulator for adults ever invented - How to use consequences in coaching by the coach doing the press ups "kids love coaches doing press ups"- Creating games within the game to challenge an

A few days ago I became another year older!!Like lost of us of a certain age, these events are greeted with a mixture of happiness (as my wife and children give me some lovely presents and spoil me a bit) and despair (at the relentless march of time!!). This year was all good and was made even better by the fact that 3 of my good friends in the world of coaching and children's sport took time out of their schedules to join me for a chat about all of the things that we are all so passionate about. What a brilliant way to spend my birthday...I hope you enjoy the discussion!!

By popular demand....Mark Bennett is back!In this episode we discuss how you define excellence with athletes and the process of reviewing to maximise influence with players. We get into a lot of detail on this one and get deep exploring this very important aspect of performance coaching. In the episode we cover...- Maximising the impact of our time with players - How to make ourselves redundant by enabling the players to lead themselves - Using 'The rule of 3' to transition players to full ownership of their learning environment - Establishing unacceptable, acceptable and exceptional behaviours and actions as a guide for creating a performance culture - A framework to guide players self review processThis is a meaty one!!Enjoy If you would like these podcasts beamed into your inbox sign up for the newsletter and never miss an episode http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk/sign-up-for-our-newsletter

Nick Ruddock is a busy guy! He is travelling all across the world providing coaching advice and coach education for gymnastics clubs and global federations. He is widely regarded as one of the leading coaches in his field but his journey is not a typical one. In this episode we discuss...- How he spent £8,000 on his initial coach education - Why he thinks that coaches should own their own learning and stop waiting for the system to feed them- Why coaches are magnetised to learning all the wrong things- Why he thinks that the UK underachieves when it comes to talent development - His views on talent transfer and how more coaches should let go of their ego and enable their athletes to progress There is plenty to get stuck into here...Enjoy

Dan Cottrell is an extremely experienced coach with over 25 years at the coal face. He has been writing and discussing coaching for over a decade as the editor of Rugby Coach Weekly, an online magazine for rugby coaches which has allowed him to learn from some of the game's best practitioners. Dan came to the podcast with a specific question about the best way to coach kids when there is an element of safety that needs to be attended to. Needless to say...we didn't stay entirely on topic but the conversation was richer for it. In the podcast we cover...- Why Dan believes that children shouldn't play organised sport younger than age 10- How he uses 'free time' to enable children to truly 'play' without adult intervention- How he uses games to let children learn key movements - Intervention strategies to guide learning and ensure safety- Insights from some of the worlds best coaches and coach developersThis is a conversation rich with information for those trying to improve what they do on a weekend with youngs

Dr Ian Renshaw is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the constraints led approach to developing skill in sport. His research and publications have had a profound effect on the sports coaching world and opened the eyes of many coaches to an alternative approach to developing players. In this episode we discuss...- How Ian helped his son Matthew to develop skills in Cricket using a constraints led approach which culminated in him representing his country as a senior international - Ian's thoughts on competition in kids sport and how it is driving coaches to use methods that aren't allowing children to fully explore their skill potential- Why he thinks that most coach education is sub optimal and doesn't help coaches learnAnd so much more...I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

A slight change of pace in this episode. I am joined by regular contributor, Nick Levett who unloads his brain with me on all manner of topics related to the youth port experience. In this episode we cover: - What is the point of coaching for kids? Is it actually doing them any good? - Is adult risk aversion ruining play for children.- Why formal competition for youngsters should be banned.- Why adult conceptions of what should feature in a child's sport experience may be destroying their enjoyment and harming their chances of progression. - Practical methods to enable children to develop skills through games using an approach called 'Playperation' And so much more....Hope you enjoyPlease join the debate at http://www.thetalentequation.co.uk/sign-up-for-our-newsletter

Alan Keane coaches the England boys U18 basketball team. Alan Keane has been on a journey! I know it's a cliche but if ever the phrase was applicable it with Alan. In this remarkably honest and refreshingly candid conversation Alan shares his transformation from being a coach that only cared about results, tactics, techniques and compliance to becoming a coach that cares about the person, their learning, their development and their ownership of the process of development. Highlights from the discussion include: - Alan's developmental journey and how he has a 'triangle of influences' that guide his learning. - How he had to get more vulnerable than he thought possible to expand his horizons- How he called a time out and only said 3 words "talk to me"- How letting the players guide their timeouts led to transformational insights (from the quietest player on the team)- His experiences of taking what he had learned into his work environment as a teacher and the unbelievable results for the teachers and the pupils

Joe Baker is a professor at the school of kinesiology and life sciences at York University in Toronto, Canada. He is one of the most respected and well published researchers in the field of expertise, talent development and lifelong physical activity. In 2013 Joe was a key player in contributing to a the creation of a consensus statement on talent for English Rugby. This document went on to become a central pillar in bringing about a lot of change throughout the talent system for young rugby players in England. In this fascinating conversation we cover a lot of ground including...- Joe's take on the 10,000 hours of deliberate practice debate.- His theory that deliberate practice may assist in the talent identification process. - How 'confirmation bias' can affect our decision making and leave talented athletes deselected.- His surprising research that shows that experienced coaches aren't necessarily better than ordinary people at identifying talent.- Why he doesn't have much time for coaches that think that

Nick Hill is probably one of the most committed coaches to his personal development that I have ever met. His quest for continuous improvement has taken him to all corners of the globe from Brisbane, to Canterbury to Chile and the US. If coaching expertise was measured in air miles then this guy has to be in the premier league! Nick's career has seen him working in talent environments for most of his career and his dedication to his craft really shines through in this episode. In this conversation we discuss...- How being coached by Brian Ashton while representing England U19s was a turning point in his career. Driving him to become a coach and do it better than he had done before. - His journey from being a drill based, instructional coach to a players centred, game based coach. - How he overcame the language barrier while working in Chile by tapping into the 'language of rugby'- His methods for getting buy in from groups of players. - How he allows techniques to develop by being patient and using clever pra

This is the first in a series of 7 mini podcasts that I will be rolling out over the next few weeks 'in between' the main feature episodes. This episode looks at the role that compteition plays in stifling teh development of talent.

Ric Shuttleworth is a unique individual with an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and insight into skill acquisition and coaching. While Ric has a strong academic background and has worked within the sports science domain for a good part of his career, he is very much a practitioner and has spent most of his life on the sidelines working directly with athletes and coaches. Ric is currently working with elite coaches across a range of sports as a coach developer and he shares a series of high quality insights and 'knowledge bombs' that will really challenge the coaching and talent community to re-imagine the way that they develop the capabilities of the athletes they guide. In this episode we discuss...- How to avoid falling into the pitfall of 'comparative coaching' - Why trying to develop a 'shared mental model' can destroy creativity - Using a 'principles based' coaching approach- How coaches should be part of the learning system not in control of it- Why following a plan is the worst thing you can do- Eddie

Mark Bennett is someone that has had the most profound effect on my coaching, my parenting, my management style and my life. Mark is an expert people developer and has worked with people from all walks of life from elite sports coaches to teachers working in primary schools. His approach to helping people to follow a path of excellence is extremely powerful and I was really keen to make sure that he shares some of his insights with the Talent Community. In this great discussion we cover: - How to decide whether you are on a journey of performance and self improvement or on a journey of self delusion- How Mark tries to make himself redundant by ensuring that coaches and athletes make good behaviour choices whether he is there or not- Using 'covert tests' to help you ensure that learning has taken place- Why most coaches need to take 70% of the content out of their session plans- How to ensure that athletes make a commitment to the goals that they establish for themselvesThis is an episode that you won't want t

Reed Maltbie is a coach that takes his craft seriously. Alongside a lifetime of experience and ongoing learning he also has 2 masters degrees in Psychology and Child Development so when it comes to developing children in sport....he knows a thing or two!His passion for coaching and for the impact that a coach can have have on children led him to deliver a TED talk on the subject of communication which you can check out belowIn this great podcast episode Reed explains how he develops positive environments for young people to thrive within. We cover a lot of topics including: - The impact of words on people- How an email from a parent 'cut him in half' and nearly made him quit coaching - Strategies he uses to build positive relationships with parents including having a 'lollipop parent' patrolling the sidelines to manage behaviour- How 'the why' of coaching is the most important thing that a coach can have to help them navigate player and parental relationships- The 3 'V's' of communication - Visual, Verbal, Va